Seven floats from different parts of Bacolod City will converge at the Tourism Strip at Lacson Street starting 7 p.m. on Friday and will transform the whole place into a stage during the first night of the Electric MassKara with the participation of the giant puppets of La Consolacion College as an added attraction.

Festival director Eli Francis Tajanlangit yesterday said the new event is called “Pagkilita-ay,Pakita-ay” when translated means “We meet and show off.”

“The idea is to showcase how Bacolod is, where the seas and mountains meet, thus, the lighted floats will carry figures and forms, creatures and characters from the seas on one hand and the mountains on the other,” he said.

Tajanlangit said the two main floats under the Majica MassKara 9 project titled “Ang Bukid Kag Baybay sa Bacolod” representing the sea and mountains done by the Bacolod artists under Charlie Co from the concept of Peque Gallaga, will be the last to come in.

He said that aside from the Majica floats, the parade will be participated in by contingents from Colegio de San Agustin, University of St. La Salle, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos and the giant puppets of LCC with their drumbeaters.

Tajanlangit said the main intention of the Electric MassKara is to transform the Tourism Strip into the longest street party ever where people will be dancing on the street.

To kick off the “Pagkilita-ay, Pakitaay”, the floats from Panasiatic Solutions at the Circumferential Road in Brgy. Villamonte and Gaisano City in Araneta Street will parade from their respective places together with their drumbeaters and cheerers at 7 p.m., he said.

Along the way, the float from Gaisano City representing the sea will be joined by the float of UNO-R from Lupit at Lacson Street, while the float from Panasiatic representing the mountain will traverse from Lopue's East to Burgos Street to North Drive and will be joined by the floats of the USLS and the CSA groups and will proceed to North Drive-Lacson Street, Tajanlangit said.

Two more corporate floats will join the mountain float from the north, he said.

Tajanlangit said the two sets of floats, representing the mountain and the seas, will enter the Tourism Strip at 9 p.m.

The floats will be stationed at various places as the party swing along the strip, he said. These will stay on Saturday and Sunday at the Tourism Strip and will be lighted at night, he added.

Tajanlangit said that on Saturday, 10 schools will perform in the streetdance competition, while 15 barangays will join the competition on Sunday from Libertad to Araneta streets to the Public Plaza.

Tajanlangit said the Public Plaza will also have major events, while the floats of IPI and Petronas will proceed to the plaza after the parade on Friday.

Rialino Alisbo, dean of the La Consolacion College of Architecture, Fine Arts and Engineering department, said that on the highlight of the MassKara Festival on Sunday, all their 73 giant puppets will lead the streetdance participants during the parade that starts at 1 p.m.

The puppets will also entertain guests along the Tourism Street from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., he said.

Alisbo said they created the giant puppets since they want to bring smiles to people especially the children, since Bacolod is known as the City of Smiles.

He said they are happy that Bacolod has recognized the local artists.

Siony Hijara, Panasiatic Solutions general manager, said they wanted to help in the promotion of the MassKara Festival by hosting the float representing the mountain. They also started as a major sponsor of the city during the countdown, she said.* CGS

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